Lakeville North wide receiver RaJa Nelson (7) spins in the air as he is brought down by Eden Prairie quarterback Ben Sather (17) in the third quarter of a MnHSL class 6A football game Lakeville North on Friday, Sept. 7, 2018. Lakeville North beat Eden Prairie, 14-0. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

Six of Minnesota’s 31 Class 6A football teams were unbeaten at this time last season. This year, there are just two.

After just three weeks of action, only Lakeville North and Blaine have unblemished records in what is shaping up to be a wildly entertaining season of big-school football. Count Lakeville North’s Brian Vossen among the many high school football coaches who check out the scores shortly after the completion of his game Friday night.

Last week, six of the top 10 ranked teams in Class 6A went down, a recurring theme through the first three weeks.

“There were so many games that were viewed as an upset,” Vossen said. “I might say Week 3 it’s hard to know for sure if anything is an upset. … But it definitely makes 6A football exciting. It makes any game one that’s going to be interesting.”

Centennial coach Mike Diggins called Lakeville North “the solid team right now.” Usually, through three weeks, there are four or five such teams. Not so this season, as many of the early favorites have already been humbled in a class producing significant parity.

“I think there’s a lot of teams that are really, really close,” Mounds View coach Aaron Moberg said. “And it’s kind of that old adage, when you’ve got a lot of programs, you learn from one another. You try to take things here and there and apply it to your program. and I think that makes everybody better.

“You have a lot of programs and a lot of coaching staffs out there that are striving to be the best they can be, which at the same time makes everybody else in their district, and the metro, better.”

What happened to the advantages the metro’s superpowers typically possess? Diggins said that gap is shrinking in part because of the numbers game in high school football. As programs see their numbers dip, depth dissipates.

“An injury here, injury there will hurt a team, and there’s just less backups and less depth for team,” Diggins said. “So, I think it’s kind of getting a little more even.”

The teams at the bottom are coming up, too. Previously downtrodden programs such as Eastview and White Bear Lake have established themselves as contenders this season. Diggins said more people are doing work in the summer, and coaching continues to improve.

“As I’ve watched film of a lot of teams playing, you’re just seeing a lot of good offense, but you’re also seeing a lot of great defense,” Vossen said. “… It’s very rare to turn film on and see a team play the same defense the whole game, or you see a team that only runs their offense out of a couple formations. We’re seeing lots of different looks, and from week to week we’re seeing different styles of football.”

Moberg said most Class 6A teams feel they can beat any opponent on any given night, and can lose to anyone, too.

“I think everybody in 6A is a decent football team,” Diggins said. “This might be the year you see a (No. 8 seed) beat a (No.) 1 (in the first round of the playoffs).”

Coaches agree this level of parity is good for football. Competitive games make for more entertainment and lead to more improvement. The number of 40-0 blowouts are dwindling. Vossen may possess one of the two remaining unbeatens in Class 6A, but there’s no issue convincing his team to not overlook a single opponent.

“I think people are seeing more equal-level schedules and less weeks where you ‘have a week off,’ ” he said. “I think in the past it was always [believed] the Lake Conference never gets a week off, where now I think we’re starting to see that there’s some other conferences that have got some great football, as well. It’s just making it competitive across the board.”

And more enjoyable for all.

“It’s fun for just the overall environment, the atmosphere at the stadium,” Moberg said. “When you have two teams that are going into the fourth quarter and it could go either way, it keeps a lot of people in their seats. … I think it’s good for everyone involved.”

Jace has covered a slew of sports since he joined the Pioneer Press in May 2015, but his primary duty is covering high schools. Jace enjoys the beat, even though he's been mistaken for a student on multiple occasions.

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